Christian turned 7 during these crazy times of COVID-19k restrictions.  The plans are to have a party later with big brother Barry.  We brought him a gift on pool cleaning out day.

Christian still got a cake for the big day. 

Jim spent some time this month helping a friend with a sewer problem that turned out to be part of  the city's problem and resulted in replacement of both sewer and water lines.  Jim did some of the digging and got a thankful response.

Mother's Day.  

Lorene decided this year to give me fake flowers, since I've managed to kill every other plant she's given me.  The little one is a succulent.  They are harder to kill, since they thrive on neglect. 

May 16th -- Still too cold to go all the way in. 

Eggs-zactly!

Photography in the hands of anyone under 10 is suspect at best.  I've been going through my photos this morning and deleting all the fuzzy ones, the twenty of stuffed animals, the ones of the floor, the ones of kid's nostrils and especially the ones of me.  I do not look well in the four or five layers of clothing I wear at Lorene's or taken unawares.

This one, which was taken by Zane with my approval is the best one showing the stair steps of size going on with this bunch.  There was a better one of me, but Christian's head wasn't there. 

Our chickens are laying again because we've had a few nice days.  Our Americana hen is doing her job and producing green eggs.  

And what we do with eggs; green or brown or white, is make egg sandwiches with cheese. 

Yum!

I love the way kid's minds work.  This is a portrait of Gramma.  

I'm wearing a long two-color dress and have long hair. 

September 2017

The nights are cooler, the sun rises later and sets earlier, a few leaves are changing color and blowing in the wind, and it's the first of October.  

"Where have the days gone?"is a familiar cry.

The end of the year is coming and what have I done to fill my days?

Knitting mostly.

Here are some days of September. 

Our pullets have starting laying eggs.  

Jim went to the State Fair.  There is a guy standing at the top of the ladder.

And down he goes.  Not my idea of a fun time!

Our dear Lynette and Anthony have settled into their home.  They have to walk up a flight of stairs to get there, but at the end is a charming patio to enjoy their supper. 

I'm walking again.  When Jim and I buy shoes the laces are incredibly long.  Either long laces are the fashion or we have skinny feet.  Too bad some of our other body parts aren't skinny. 

Miss Paislee

The first day of fall.  That's 9:04 PM!!

The sun comes up on that first day of fall directly opposite the dining room window.  I've watched it swing from here far north past our pine trees, and now I will watch it swing away to the south.  

Before sunrise from flaming red and bright yellow to periwinkle and indigo blue.

Miss Paislee

Paislee came to visit the other day.  I'm so glad she is comfortable at Gramma's house. 

She is at the age and stage that she will try to climb whatever she sees.  That day it was the coffee table.  She couldn't make the couch. 

She and Christian got to playing a game, where she would push at Christian and he would "fall off". 

I don't know how it got started. Likely Paislee touched him and he made a big show at the first.

She caught on quickly and when Lorene and I laughed they kept it up.

It is hard not to laugh with the little ones enjoying themselves.

I didn't realize they were coming until after I was in the middle of sorting my knitting supplies, thus a messy couch.

School has started again and I'm watching the boys. Christian in school half days so we have a few hours together before we walk to pick up the other boys from school.

Birthdays Mean Family

Mother's Day has come and gone. I got some nice gifts and my dishes done for me by my very kind husband.  That was my kind of gift.  I found utensils in some strange places for the next few days, but that's a small price to pay for a couple of dishwasher empties.  

Some woman came to the nursing home where Lorene works with an enormous basket full of hydrangeas left over from a wedding.  After giving each resident some, and make bouquets for the various offices, she had some to bring home and some for me. 

I didn't realize hydrangeas were so beautiful.  They are so big and full and massed in this vase are giving me a great deal of pleasure.  

Monday, Lorene had some paper work to do in relation to her new job so she brought Christian in with her so he could hang out with me for an hour before we went back to pick up Barry from Pre-K.  He always wants me to play games, but this time I was filling out a very important form for the government with dire threats if I didn't fill it out promptly and truthfully.  

So he had to entertain himself until time to go.  

It was the elementary school play day for all except those in Pre-K, so we went home after we picked up Barry to gather some "lunch" and went to the park.  The classes were at lunch, and we didn't see Zane right away, so we sat down and ate our cheese and Doritos, (we were hungry) and then went to find Zane.  He was so happy to see us he gave me his lunch box to hold and immediately traded his Gatorade for Barry's pop. Then he and Barry proceeded to find friends and chase around and climb the back of the bleachers while Christian wandered around with me.  In a bit all the classes were gathered for more organized play and I took the other two boys to the play set and tried to watch what Zane was doing.  The boys were tired of watching and playing and we went back so I could go home, but not before I got to see Zane drop kick a football, and do it very well, too. 

It looks like Lorene took them back after while. 

Tuesday Christian turned 4.  It is hard to imagine since he seems just the same as he did the day before.  They grow so slowly into bigger boys that it sneaks up on me. 

Our gift, just what he wanted. We also bought a bike helmet for his new pedal-less bike. 

Paislee is very close to walking and her greatest entertainment is having some one help. That is, if she can't dig rocks out of the cracks in the concrete.  Pretty good small motor skills there. 

On our way home, we drove through a ferocious wind, with the air so full of dust from just planted fields, it felt like we were driving through fog.  We were expecting rain, but there was none, By the time we got home the air was clear and the wind had lessened.  

We got rain Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, an inch and a half.  Jim is out slogging in the mud trying to get some work done in spite of the weather.  We don't want to get too far behind.  

I got a glimpse of Paislee on Wednesday since Lorene was babysitting for the day.  

I really need a new camera.  None of mine can take good photos in motion, and all I want to take pictures of is kids. 

I love to see the grandkids play with the toys my own children used. 

Boy Weekend

I've been busy.  Busy enough that I haven't felt like blogging.  So busy that I'm not going to remember everything that happened in the last two weeks.  There are photos here that will help to tell the story.  

Paislee can stand by herself,  They were here last week, and she crawled all over and pulled herself up on things, but she didn't show this to us that night. 

We're reusing the high chair that started with Zane.  

She's one smart cookie.  Although, I think they all are at that age.  They know a whole lot more than you think. I have my first baby doll sitting in our living room and when Paislee saw it she took after it and like all 9 month olds, proceeded to pull it around and poke it's eyes.  Nathan thought she should leave it alone, so he laid down in front of it to hide it from view.  

Like THAT'S going to work.  If you look closely at the bottom photo, in the corner by the basket and bookcase, is the doll before Paislee noticed.  As Nathan was lying there, she crawled between the piano and bench and around his feet to get to the doll!

It was Christian's turn to stay with us overnight.  This over-nighter was a carbon copy of Barry's  the week before, except for the fact that we dealing with a 3 almost 4 year old and one that is Gramma's boy more than Papa's.

He loves his stuffed animals.  These are his favorite right now, and at bedtime, they were nowhere to be found.  He had them inside and out, upstairs and down.  Jim even went out in the dark to look around, after we scoured the inside of the house.  Luckily, gramma has special animals, and he went to bed and back home again without these.  I asked Lynette the next day, if she had any idea where he could have put them and she did!  While she was here, he mentioned putting them behind the curtains, and when I went to look, there they were.  

The case was closed.  

3 year old photographer.

It was windy this time when we went to feed the fish, and the fish weren't at home. 

Christian wasn't too sure about the giant buffalo at the Archway. Barry wouldn't let me take a picture. 

The good news.

Four and a half years since treatment and a clear report on Thursday.